Representatives Thompson (D-CA) and Tipton (R-CO) request that you join them in showing bipartisan support for funding the U.S. Forest Service large air tanker program in the Fiscal Year 2018 Interior and Environment bill.

The fire season in 2017 has shown to be another devastating year that cost dozens of lives and billions in property losses. Years of prolonged drought and lengthening periods of extreme heat are resulting in conditions where many small wildfires have turned
into mega-fires that have affected many states.

Large, fixed wing air tankers are the most important initial attack asset in the Forest Service’s arsenal to fight forest fires. For every one percent improvement in initial attack success rate, the US Forest Service can save roughly $100 million in extended
attack expenses needed to fight wildfires that escape.

We will be closing this letter COB Tuesday, December 12. Please note – there is no appropriations database submission associated with this letter. If your boss is interested in signing on, please contactAnn-Marie Gantner in Congressman Thompson’s office orLiz Payne in Congressman Tipton’s office.

The Honorable Rodney Frelinghuysen The Honorable Nita Lowey

Chairman Ranking Member

Committee on Appropriations Committee on Appropriations

H-305, The Capitol 1016 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Ken Calvert The Honorable Betty McCollum

Chairman Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and

Related Agencies Related Agencies

Committee on Appropriations Committee on Appropriations

B-308 Rayburn House Office Building 1016 Longworth House Office Building

We write to express our support for funding additional large airtankers for wildland firefighting in the Fiscal Year 2018 Interior and Environment bill. The fire season in 2017 was another devastating year that cost dozens of lives and billions in property
losses across the west. The wildfire devastation in California is only the most recent example of how years of prolonged drought result in conditions where small wildfires escape into runaway modern mega-fires. The growing number of unusually destructive
and deadly wildfires requires that Congress take action to address the critical need for additional wildland firefighting assets.

Through your leadership, the Interior appropriations title in P.L. 113-235 passed on December 16, 2014, provided funding to initiate the large air tanker modernization program. It is critical to continue the funding support in the FY 2018 Interior appropriations
to ensure the US Forest Service’s firefighting capability keeps improving to combat the rapidly intensifying wildfire threat.

USFS has expressed a desire for a small core of modern, highly capable government owned and contractor operated air tankers to fight wildfires. Such a program was the primary recommendation supported in the USDA Forest ServiceLarge Airtanker Modernization Strategy released February 2012. The large airtanker funded in the FY 2015 Interior title will be the first asset in what will ultimately be a highly reliable and effective national capability that will help contain the
catastrophic wildfires that are devastating the west.

We request the final FY 2018 Interior and Environment appropriations bill include funding to continue the long-term modernization of the U.S. Forest Service’s fleet of firefighting large airtankers.